4 Hour Body's Occam's Protocol, RTM-Style

After we read Tim Ferriss's 4 Hour Body, my wife and I made a bet: the first person to a 20lb body recomposition is taken out to a night on the town on the other's dime. Easy enough?

Her goal was to lose 20lb of fat, something she's been unable to do. Ever. My goal, however, was to gain 20lb of muscle, something I've been unable to do. Ever.

For anyone without the book (highly, highly recommended), "Occam's Protocol" is a workout regimen based on two alternating workout routines spaced out by a number of days. These rest periods range from 2 days to over a week, and I really don't want to keep tweaking a calendar every time these periods change length.

Enter Remember the Milk!

The plan was to add one task per Workout:Workout A @Gym !1 ^Monday *every 4 daysWorkout B @Gym !1 ^Wednesday *every 4 days

To explain these Quick Add shortcuts:1. Name (which workout)2. Location (wherever you work out, of course!)3. Priority 1 (if you really want to win!)4. Initial due date (the day you're starting to work out for A, two days later for B)5. Double the resting period (this is the special sauce. Double the resting period to find the repeat delay, so they'll alternate at the right times)

To each of these tasks, I added a Note describing the target workout. You could, however, use the Workout Checklist tip (https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/tips/9576/) or a shared Evernote Note URL to keep track of what's going into each.

Every time I need to update the period between workouts, all I do is bump up the repeat frequency (remember that it's doubled!), and push the second task's Due Date out one day.

For example, if I just finished Workout A, and I know I need to wait longer before my next B, I would:1. Increase Workout A's "Repeat:" field 2 days. (Example: from "every 4 days" to "every 6 days")2. Increase Workout B's "Repeat:" field 2 days.3. Postpone Workout B 1 day.4. Mark Workout A completed, and notice the due date. (Example: 6 days from now!)

Back in sync, and ready to keep gaining!

Posted at 5:28pm on January 9, 2012

emily (Remember The Milk) says:

Hi schoonology,

Nice tip! I just wanted to let you know you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner, so we've added a year of Pro to your Remember The Milk account. :)